Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Hi Cuties,Now that the Easter hubbub has died down, wanted to regale you with a few more tales of our trip to Hawaii. Hawaii. Yes, it almost seems like a dream now. Yet, I'll attempt to piece together a few more details of the trip from my decidedly hazy memory. While in Hawaii, we were very active. This was probably because we were traveling with my parents and they did grown up things like renting a car, buying a travel guide ahead of time and planning activities. I'll cover the highlights in this post and then I promise you, Hawaii is almost done.

1. LuauOn Tuesday night, we attended the Feast at Lele in Lahaina. We chose this luau because it was the most expensive so obviously the best (that's how that works, right?) and advertised itself with hooks like "top-shelf liquor," and "no kids." It was a good choice, because we loved loved loved this luau. It was set right on the beach on the brink of the sunset and the whole thing was really well organized and fun. Finally, I was greeted with my fresh, fragrant lei and, even better, a mai tai! Everyone at this luau sat at individual tables instead of the long communal tables utilized in many luaus. As I have a strong aversion to communal dining and small talk with strangers (I'm just lovely, I know) this was the perfect setup. We were treated to a four course meal featuring various Island cuisines and each course was accompanied by the hula dancing traditional to that island. The dancers were awesome to look at and the food was so great. It was really the perfect night.

me before the luau

2. Mama'sMama's is one of the most famous restaurants on Maui and we went there for dinner on Wednesday night. Somehow we managed to score a great table right on the beach. Again, great food, especially for seafood lovers (the mister is not a seafood lover but even he loved it).

The parents, exhausted from a day of planning ahead, yet hopeful for a fun night to come

3. Road to HanaThe road to Hana. First, as we learned in the guidebook, it is about the journey. Apparently, if you actually make it to Hana, which we did not, you're all like, "wait this is it? shiitt, this place looks like nothing." The road to Hana is a very, very curvy road and is a super popular tourist destination. There are tons of hidden waterfalls and mini adventures right off the road if you know where to look. Basically, you research ahead of time or get some sort of book (we used Maui Revealed) and then pull off the road based on certain mile markers and landmarks. If you miss a pull-off it's not really easy to turn around, so after missing the first two, I was concerned that we would make it to "nothing-special" Hana sooner than planned. We did finally see some success though - with a little bit of hiking, little bit of swimming in the pool of a waterfall, little bit of highway-side jewelry shopping (people who don't find a way to shop every day really aren't trying hard enough.)

We watched some local teenagers take turns making death-defying jumps from the side of the bridge

4. Magic Show

We rushed back from the Road to Hana to be on time for the grand finale of this leg of the trip, a magic show at a nearby hotel. Whoo hoo, I know. What we didn't realize is that my stepmom had payed extra (who does this!?) so that we would all be featured in the show. By "we," I mean me, my dad, and Erik. Mags magically managed to avoid being pulled up on stage. How did she ever do it? I'll say this and leave it at that - if you go to Maui, I'd recommend checking out the show. It's something else. After the show, we met up with some friends who happened to be in Maui at the same time as us. They also happen to live in Australia so it was quite funny that we were in Hawaii at the same time. How fun is that?

Dad hamming it up for the audience

C making magic

Mister making magic, or something

Relaxing with my pineapple drink after the show

Just one more Hawaii post after this, and then I promise, I'm done! I barely remember it anyway.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

It was so good to be home and relax with the fam for the weekend. I decided to avoid nights out at the PA bars which would be filled with old highschool classmate run-ins and excessive drinking due to awkwardness and just stay in and hang with the fam. It was the right decision. I was in desparate need of family time, sleep, wine paid for by my parents, yummy food paid for by my parents and a big screen TV:) We did manage to squeeze in some Easter activities too. We painted some eggs (mine were the prettiest) and I made a marvelous sugar creation to satisfy our sweet tooths. Oh, and did I mention that the Easter Bunny brought me an iPhone?! He did! He did!

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Hi Cuties,Hope everyone enjoyed the weekend. We had a great Easter weekend. Lyss and I were able to finally reunite with our two stepsisters (the first time since Christmas) and we spent a wonderful weekend catching up. Unfortunately, our cutie brother James didn't make it home so we were one short of a full family. Luckily we made sure he was there in spirit and ate and drank plenty on his behalf. We spent the weekend drinking wine, eating, playing wii, eating, sleeping, eating, shopping, eating, listening to my dad's old record collection, decorating eggs and today we were even able to get outside to play some pickle ball! If you don't know what pickle ball is, check it out here. http://www.pickleball.com/ It is a family favorite, for sure.Yes, there was also some church involved, and no, there were no easter baskets (what? do you think we're little kids?) This week on the Co'C, Lyss will give her take on the weekend and I'll have some more updates on our Hawaii trip! Stay tuned.xo,C

mmm, candy.

and a littttle chickie.

I was presented with my trophy for winning BOTH family fantasy football leagues. Princess Unicorn had a very good year, friends.

A lovely table setting put together by the lovely Mags.

How did this guy get to the head of the table? Don't worry, it's actually the foot.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Well, have jumped back into work mode this week and I am just tired (definitely not back on a normal sleep schedule but not exactly feeling six hours behind either.) Still trying to be easy, breezy, stress-free, but wanted to post some much delayed pics of our Hawaii trip before the trip and my new attitude become a distant memory ;)

After a loong flight (with no TVs on the back of the seats, thank god I had loaded up my ipod with Real World episodes), we arrived in Hawaii. Now, my dad had promised me that as soon as you land in Hawaii a fragrant smelling lei made of the freshest of blossoms is gently placed around your neck. That did not happen to us, although everyone else seemed to have one, and I'm sad to report that I almost started crying in the middle of baggage claim. Expectations. not. managed. Luckily Erik saved the day by quickly buying us our own leis (he knows me so well, who cries when they arrive in Hawaii?). Then my Dad and Maggie picked us up and we were off to our hotel in Ka'anapali - after a quick beer run to Walmart, but of course. We stayed at a Marriott time share there and it was such a nice set up. We had a huge suite with a balcony looking out on the ocean and I lovvved it. Hawaii reminded me of a spa - it smelled nice and was relaxing and we wore towels wrapped around us and there seemed to be strains of softly playing music wherever you were on the island. We spent the first part of the week lounging by the pool and snorkeling with sea turtles. You could even see humpback whales jumping out of the water - from the hotel. Fun times. Stay tuned - lots more Hawaii coming your way!xo,C

PS. How messed up but also funny is this season of Real World? Love love me some Naomi. That girl is the cuteness. And I happen to have the same negligee that she is wearing in the opening credits. It's from Target.

Loving surfer chic again. Want to do it up all over my apartment!

Our pool had a pretty decent sized slide and the mister was obsessed with it and waited on line with all the little kids about 5 times a day.